Syria troops advancing towards Raqqah: Drone footage

According to so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Tuesday, Syrian government forces, supported by the Russian air force, have reached within 25 kilometers (15 miles) of a terrorist-held town in the Raqqah province.

Raqqah city, on the northern bank of the Euphrates River, about 160 kilometers east of Aleppo, was overrun by Takfiri terrorists in March 2013, and in 2014 was proclaimed the center for most of the terrorists’ administrative and control tasks.

Meanwhile, the Syrian state-run TV has reported that the Syrian air force has targeted positions in the city of Tabqa, destroying armed vehicles belonging to the terrorists.

In a separate offensive, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are also advancing towards the city.

Armed men in uniforms identified by Syrian Democratic forces as US special operations forces stand in the back of a pickup truck in the village of Fatisah in the northern Syrian province of Raqqah on May 25, 2016. (AFP)

The SDF has been fighting Daesh since mid-October. It was formed out of an alliance between the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and other forces, including Arab and Assyrian fighters, and has the United States’ backing.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy it blames on some regional and western governments. According to a February report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict in Syria has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people in total since March 2011. The UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict.